Month: April 2020

PR should focus on building trust during COVID-19: Varghese Thomas

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The COVID-19 pandemic has thrown the single biggest challenges at the Public Relations community. There is widespread panic triggered by misinformation; inadequate hospitals capacity leading to alarm; the stress of social distancing and lockdowns to cope with; jobs being lost; and there is uncertainty around manufacturing, travel, supply chains and public services.    The recent Edelman report called Brand Trust and the Coronavirus Pandemic found that 78% of respondents felt businesses had a responsibility to ensure their employees are protected from the virus in the workplace and to not spread…

Alibaba, Tencent Pour Cash Into India’s Gaming Market

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Watching cricket, playing rummy or playing crypto league are online passions for hundreds of millions of Indian netizens. Gaming is legal in the country and fuelling gaming industry on the growth trajectory and expected to touch quadrupling in the revenue.   That’s attracting the attention of the large investors to invest in Asia’s biggest internet companies. Tencent Holdings and  Alibaba Group Holding and SoftBank Group Corp. are investing hundreds of millions of dollars in Indian apps that use loopholes in anti-gambling laws — some dating to the colonial era — to offer…

Nearly 5 Million dead in U.S. Senate approves nearly $500 billion for bailout

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On April 21st The U.S. Senate unanimously approved $484 billion in additional coronavirus relief for the U.S. economy and hospitals treating people sickened by the pandemic, sending the measure to the House of Representatives for final passage later this week, as per Reuter.   The bill, approved by the Senate on a voice vote in a near-empty chamber, was hurried along shortly after congressional leaders and the White House brokered an agreement. The House is expected to vote on April 23 on what would be the fourth coronavirus-response law. Taken together, the four…

South Korean Companies Likely Shift Units From China To India

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Coronavirus is expected bring fortune for India, many countries including from Korean are pulling their set-up out of China, and are looking for ‘favourable’ nations like India. India is all set to become a manufacturing base for Korean companies for their global markets.   Due to the rising trade war tensions between the United States (US) and China, several South Korean companies might consider moving their units from the communist nation to India, The Times of India reported .   According to the report, the Korean consulate in Indian city…

Tamil Nadu Govt. Joins Hands with HCL to Strengthen its Response to COVID-19

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The Government of Tamil Nadu has partnered with HCL to set up a state-of-the-art Disaster Management – Data Analytics Center to strengthen the State’s disaster management efforts in the face of the COVID 19 pandemic. HCL is also helping improve and expand the state’s disaster management helpline (1070) through technological upgradation, manpower assistance and effective reporting mechanisms.   The Disaster Management Center of the Government of Tamil Nadu (in Ezhilagam Building, Chepauk, Chennai) is responsible for the overall management of disasters across the entire state. The Disaster Management – Data…

Two cats in New York become 1st pets in US to test positive for coronavirus

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A statement of two pet cats in New York tested positive, by coronavirus, was confirmed by United States Federal officers. This is probably the first confirmed case in companion animals. The cats, which had mild respiratory illnesses and are expected to recover, are thought to have contracted the virus from people in their households or neighbourhoods, the US Department of Agriculture and the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. The finding, which comes after positive tests in some tigers and lions at the Bronx Zoo, adds to a small number of confirmed cases of the virus in animals worldwide. US authorities say that while…

Post lockdown, employee medical insurance cover made mandatory by government

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After the outbreak of pandemic, the government has made it mandatory for all employers which resume functioning as the lockdown gets over, to provide medical insurance to their employees.   CEO and Director, Liberty General Insurance, Roopam Asthana, said that earlier it was not mandatory for all employers to provide health insurance cover to their employees. “However, some employers were buying ‘Group Health Insurance’ from insurance companies to cover their employees.”   A corporate group health insurance policy generally covers hospitalisation expenses of employees as well as defined family members including…

Haryana Government will provide 10 Lakh insurance cover to COVID-19 reporters

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After the news about Mumbai journalists being struck by Coronavirus pandemic, Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar, made an announcement of providing 10 Lakh insurance cover to the journalist covering the coronavirus pandemic report.   Khattar said that in this battle of Corona, our journalists are also putting their lives in danger by sending news. We appreciate their work. Accredited and Recognized journalists are being given life insurance cover of Rs 10 lakh at this time of Corona.   CM Manohar Lal Khattar described the people involved in the plantation and purchase…

Free Press’ means free flow of reason and freedom from ‘Shouting Brigade’

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Lockdown doesn’t mean locking the minds and closure of reason. Democracy rests on few principles of debate, discussion, dissent and free flow of ideas and information.  On the basis of free flow of ideas and information we make our rational choices in a democracy. We know and expect that these ideas and information that comes to us will be loaded with some values and biases because nothing is value or bias free. The transaction of providing free information and ideas is the responsibility of ‘Free Press’. That is the reason…

COVID-19 Outbreak Associated with Air Conditioning in Restaurant, Guangzhou, China, 2020

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Restaurant X is an air-conditioned, 5-floor building without windows. The third floor dining area occupies 145 m2; each floor has its own air conditioner. The distance between each table is about 1 m. Families A and B were each seated for an overlapping period of 53 minutes and families A and C for an overlapping period of 73 minutes. The air outlet and the return air inlet for the central air conditioner .   On January 24, a total of 91 persons (83 customers, 8 staff members) were in the…